Geoffrey Miller

New Zealand geopolitical analyst & Arabic/Russian learner

Tagged: Catherine Judd

Politics

ACT out of cash and out of time?

ACT has a reputation for being a party of the rich, a reputation which the party has often denied. There is some evidence for this, as I found out in my dissertation: ACT’s declared election spending decreased by over forty per cent over the elections from 1996 to 2005, although the decline was not uniform. In 1999, the figure dropped by sixty percent compared with 1996, to $657,889.14. Donations recovered to allow spending of $1,625,558.79 in 2002, but slumped again in 2005, when the party spent only $966,614.72 (Electoral Commission 2003). Furthermore, [then party president Catherine] Judd (2006) cited lack...

Politics

Conference 2008: The end of “The Liberal Party”?

Conference information posted to members in February featured what appears to be a new, slimline ACT logo. While it is true that little has actually changed, but what has gone is the bottom strip featuring the appendage “The Liberal Party”. This moniker was introduced by ACT party president Catherine Judd in 2003 as part of the “Liberal Project”, the aim of which was to rebrand ACT and tackle the party’s ongoing image problem. However, this was an alteration of the logo only and not a full name change, which would have required the approval of members. In ACT’s first two...

Politics

Kenneth Wang – a dream candidate?

The results of the Douglas to Dancing online poll are in. Of course, I don’t claim that the poll results are in any way scientific. The fact is that 13 people responded. While this is by no means a high number, this is a niche blog! So let’s look at the results as an indication of the people most interested in ACT – they might not be ACT voters (although I’m sure many will have been), but they’re keen enough to vote in an online poll. It seems that Kenneth Wang is the preferred dream candidate of respondents. Wang is...

Politics

ACT contesting Wellington Central

Party newsletter ACTion! reported today that ACT will be contesting the Wellington Central seat at the 2008 election, with the candidate to be “unveiled” next Thursday. By the sound of the announcement it must be a stellar candidate, who knows, perhaps a former MP or city councillor? Or someone from media or sport? Whoever it is, he or she will have to be well known to Wellingtonians to have any chance of winning the seat. Richard Prebble held this seat from 1996-1999, but the electoral boundaries have since changed, making this a harder seat for ACT to win. Indeed, Marion...

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